Electric apparatus for railways



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. B. ODELL. ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS.

Patented July 29,1890.

M m hN 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. B. ODELL. ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS.

Patented July 29,1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. ODELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 433,210, dated July 29, 1890.

Serial No. 346,590. (No model.)

To all whom it ntay concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN B. ODELL, a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Apparatus for Railways, &c., of which I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accom panying drawings, forming partof this specification.

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 425,388, granted to me jointly with H. N. May, as assignee, April 8, 1890, are set forth certain impro vements in electric-railway apparatus, one feature of these improvements being the mounting of the motor upon a car in such manner that the motor can be moved back and forth in order to effect a gradual starting and stopping of the car. In the construction of motor shown in said Letters Patent the connection between the car-axle and the motor was effected, preferably, by a belt which extended from the end of the motor-shaft to a pulley upon the axle of the ear. An objection incident to this construction was that the location of the belt-pulley upon the end of the motor-shaft would tend to draw the motor out of alignment. A further objection was that with such prior construction it would be difficult to connect two motors with the car-axle so that they should work in unison and so that when either failed or was not required the other could perform the work. One object of my present invention is to so improve the construction of the motor as to better adapt it for service in transmitting the power to a car-axle or in whatever situation it might be employed, and this object of my invention I have accomplished in the preferred construction by providing a motor with two armatures, a shaft connecting said armatures, and magnets for 'the armatures, and a pulley or other gear device located upon the shaft intermediate the armatures.

A further object of my invention is to improve the means for sustaining the motor in such manner that it can be moved back and forth in order to throw it into and out of gear with the car-axle.

A still further object of my invention is to grovide means whereby, when the motor is thrown out of gear with the car-axle, a shuntcircuit will be closed in such manner as to throw one set of magnets and its corresponding armature out of action, thereby leaving the remaining armature and its magnets to maintain the speed of the motor and by so much reduce the amount of current used while the car is at rest.

These various objects I have accomplished by the novel features of construction hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a car truck or body having my improved mechanism applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a View in vertical longitudinal section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

A and A denote the axles of the carwheels, to the journal-boxes a of which is connected a frame B, by which the motor will be sustained. To the side bars of the frame B is bolted a plate C, preferably of boileriron, this plate being bent downwardly to form a bottom 0 for the box, wherein the motor will be held. The sides of the box are formed by plates 0 and the upper part of the end walls of the box are formed by the angle-plates '0, that are bolted, as shown, to the horizontal parts of the plate 0. Upon the bottom 0 of the box or casing are placed the guide-rails D, whereon will sit the saddleblocks E of the motor-frame. This motorframe consists of the side bars F and F, carrying, respectively, the journal-boxesf, these side bars F and F being connected together by means of the end bars F and F. From the end bars F and F extend downwardly the bottom bars F", to which are fastened the saddle-blocks E. Vithin the journal-boxes fandf' are carried the journal ends of the axle G of the armatures II and H, the armature II working between its appropriate magnets I and I, while the armature H works between its corresponding magnets I and I The magnets I and I are bolted with suitable insulation to the motor-frame, and by this frame are also sustained the insulated brushes K, K, K and K of well-known construction, and serving in the usual manner The current is delivered to one of the magnets I by a wire 2, that serves to take the curto convey the current to the commutators hi serves to conduct away the current to an appropriate conductor, either overhead or underground.

The shaft G of the armatures H and H carries at its center a pulley M, over which passes a belt N, that passes also over a pulley 0 upon the axle A of the car. From the construction as thus far defined it will be seen that when motion is imparted to the shaft G the revolution of the pulley M will be transmitted by the belt N to the pulley O and through this pulley and the axle A to the wheels of the car. As the motor-frame is mounted upon the guide-rails D in such manner that it can. be moved backand forth, it is plain that when the motor is moved in. such manner as to tighten the belt N motion will be imparted from the pulley M through this belt to the car-wheels, and on the other hand, when the motor is moved in opposite direction, the belt will be slaokened in such mannor as to permit the motor-shaft to revolve without transmitting motion to the axle of the car.

In order toimpart aback-and-forth motion to the motor-frame and the motor carried thereby, I prefer to connect to the end bar F of the motor-frame a link R, pivotally connected,-as at 10, to the lower end of the operating-lever S, that is pivotally sustained, as at 11, by the segment-frame T, the upper edge of this segment-frame being furnished with a rack-bar t, with which will engage a checkpawl 20, that will be controlled bya suitable handle pivoted near the operating-lever in manner Well understood in the art, hence it will be seen that when current is passing through the motor in the manner above defined and it is desired to transmit motion from the motor-shaft to the car-wheels it is only necessary to move the operating-lever in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, thereby causing the tightening of the belt N upon the pulleys M and O, and on the other hand, when it is desired to stop or check the movement of the car it is only necessary to lift the pawl 20 from engagement with the rack-bar t and move the operating-lever S in reverse direction, thereby loosening the belt N and permitting the motor-shaft G to revolve without etfect-ing the movement of the car-wheels.

As it is necessary to use but very little current to keep up the speed of the motor-shaft when the car is at a standstill, I prefer to provide means whereby one set of magnets and their armature will be thrown out of action when the motor has been shifted to such position as to so farloosen the belt N that it will no longer propel the car. One simple form of V mechanism for this purpose consists of a shunt-wire 30, that connects the wire 8 to an insulated contact-plate 31 at the back end of the motor-frame, and opposite this contactplate 31 there is fastened to the box or casing a similar contact-plate 32, insulated in like manner and connected by a shunt-wire 33 to the wire 5. From this construction it will be seen that when the motorframe has been shifted in such manner as to loosen the belt N the contact-plates 31 and 32 will be brought together, thus causing the passage of current I from the wire 5, by way of shunt-wire 33, contact-plate 32 and 31, and shunt-wire 30, to the wire 8, thereby causing the cutting out of the magnets l and I and their armature H. As soon, however, as it is desired to start the car, and the motor-frame is moved forward to tighten the belt N, the contact between the plates 31 and 32 will be broken and the passage of current will be reestablished between the magnets I and l to again throw them into action.

It is obvious that the details of construction above set out may be varied Without de parting from the spirit-of my invention, and that certain features of the invention maybe used without its adoption as "an entirety. Thus, for eXample,instead of a belt-pulley M, other suitable form of gear devicesuch, for example, as a friction-pulleymay be used, such friction-pulley being adapted to be brought in contact with a fixed friction-pulley suitably geared with the car-axle. So, also, the precise mechanism whereby one set of magnets and their armature is thrown into and out of circuit may be varied, and this throwing of one set of magnets into and out of circuit may be effected by other means than by the shifting of the motor.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the car-axle and the pulley and belt for transmitting motion thereto, of a movable motor having two armatures and magnets for said armatures and commutators adapted to cause said armatures to revolve in like direction, and a pulley located on the armature-shaft intermediate the armatures, and suitable means for moving said motor back and forth, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the armatures and their magnets and a shaft for said armatures and a pulley upon said shaft intermediate said armatures, of aframe connected to journal-boxes of said shaft at its ends and extending around and serving to sustain't-he magnets, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the car axle boxes, of a frame mounted upon said boxes, a casing for the motor extending between the sides of said frame, said casing having bottom, side, and end plates, and having rails IIO Whereon the motor is movably sustained, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a motor and a base Whereon it is movably mounted, of means for moving the motor, comprising a suitable frame connected to the journahboxes of the motor-shaft and a suitable shifting device connected to said frame, whereby the power for shifting the motor maybe applied directly to the shaft and in direct opposition to the resistance, substantially as described.

5. In electric-railway apparatus, the combination, with the car-axle and means forimparting motion thereto, of amotor having two armatures and their magnets and suitably geared to the car-axle, and an automatic cutoutmechanism, whereby when the car is at rest one of the armatures and its magnets will be cut out of circuit, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the motor having two armatures and their magnets, of means for shifting said motor and a cut-out mechanism adapted to be brought into action when the motor is moved in one direction and thrown out of action when the motor is oppositely moved, substantially as described.

JOHN B. ODELL.

\Vitnesses:

GEo. P. FISHER, J11, F. 13; CARPENTER. 

